<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>thing i'll never finish x2 by neverweremine</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27901540">thing i'll never finish x2</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/neverweremine/pseuds/neverweremine'>neverweremine</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Ultimate Spider-Man (Cartoon 2012)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 17:47:20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,903</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27901540</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/neverweremine/pseuds/neverweremine</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
      <p>This is all I'll probably ever post of this but just know it's a rewrite and it's starting at episode 1 and will wildly diverge from there.</p>
    </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>thing i'll never finish x2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is all I'll probably ever post of this but just know it's a rewrite and it's starting at episode 1 and will wildly diverge from there.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The cake smeared on the concrete. It was a simple cake: one layer, vanilla with strawberry frosting, wrapped up in a pink confectionary box that had crumpled from the force of hitting the pavement. It even had lettering, bright blue against the frosting which cost a few extra cents - cents that mattered little in the long run but still </span>
  <em>
    <span>mattered</span>
  </em>
  <span>, and now it had broken into little pieces along with the cake.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Who’s…” the guy started, tilting his head to better read the blue lettering splattered across the ground, “Ben?” He hovered a few feet off the ground, his face masked by the - (what was that, a bucket?) - helmet on his head but his lips showing little remorse for what he did, for zapping Peter mid-swing and causing him to almost splatter. This good for nothing - </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry about the cake,” Bucket-Guy said, sounding sincere. Suddenly the righteous anger that was building in Peter’s chest deflated like a leaky balloon. “I - </span>
  <em>
    <span>We </span>
  </em>
  <span>needed to get your attention.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Peter rolled his shoulders - </span>
  <em>
    <span>can’t show ’em you’re bothered</span>
  </em>
  <span> - and put as much ‘pizazz’ in his voice as he could muster. “What’s this? Some kind of superhero intervention? Sorry, but I don’t have the time. Care to take a raincheck?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The team - because they had to be a team: a girl in white with a high ponytail, the guy with a bucket on his head, another guy with a funky half-mask and dragon insignia on his chest, and... what he assumed was a junior wrestler with sunlight problems - surrounded him. He waited for the spider-sense to overwhelm him, creating an electric sizzle dancing on his tongue and across his brainwaves, but everything was normal. His tongue tasted normal.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then the girl spoke:</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re here to talk to you about the school you terrorized this morning.” Her voice rang loud and clear across the abandoned construction zone. “I know Director Fury told you you’d be welcome to the team, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to sit back and let some troublemaker join without-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His tongue soured. Terrorized? </span>
  <em>
    <span>Troublemaker</span>
  </em>
  <span>? </span>
  <b>
    <em>Team</em>
  </b>
  <span>?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Life was a series of choices. Choices other people make that affect you and the choices you make that affect other people. Ever since That Night, Peter had been careful to choose wisely because as they say, with great power comes great responsibility, but as the days’ events came crashing into him: the frightful four; Harry being hospitalized; his fault; his responsibility, and the SHIELD’s team words’ filled his ears - Peter did something he hadn’t done in a long time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He chose the irresponsible choice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He picked a fight.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Whoa, what’s your problem?” yelled Buckethead as Spider-Man pulled him in by a web. Up close, he realized the teen was shorter than Peter, with a surrounding blue glow that reminded him of the spaceship nightlight he’d had as a kid; the one Uncle Ben bought for him when he first moved into his uncle and aunt’s house.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nothing, Nightlight. What’s yours?” He tugged harder until Nightlight was pulled from the sky and onto the ground with the rest of them, only for his spider-sense to crackle in his head like a two-way radio. He dodged the claws and the glowing fist — “Hey, you got some kind of glow theme I’m not aware of? Is that why you don’t want me on the team?” — and back flipped over the big guy’s shoulders as he tumbled forward with a punch.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So where’s your glow theme, Jr. Wrestler?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t glow and I’m not a wrestler,” Junior Wrestler said, short and succinct. “But I can knock your lights out if you’re not careful.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bo~ring,” sang Peter as he dodged the first, second, and third punch. He ducked under the fourth and winced as the beam they’d been fighting around bent with a squeal of buckling metal. “Oh wait, you weren’t kidding about that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The wrestler seemed smug and apologetic in one as he withdrew his fist. “Nope.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right.” Tucking into a forward roll, Peter dashed to put space between him and the big guy and shot a web. Score. The wrestler grunted as he tried to pull himself from the twisted metal, but unless someone came to help him, he was as good as stuck. Spider-Man: 1. SHIELD: 0.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Buckethead was still struggling to remove the web from his chest, so Peter did him a favor and shot a web on his face as he passed. Spider-Man: 2. SHIELD: 0.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A glowing fist directed at his face had him playing limbo. Dragon-Chest had a very precise way of fighting that harkened back to martial arts training. Goodie. “We do not wish to fight, Spider-Man,” said Dragon-Chest sagely, like something out of an 80s Kung Fu movie. “We simply came to introduce ourselves to our new teammate.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was that word again. Teammate. He shot a web at the glowing fists and didn’t blink as the guy punched the webs into disintegration. The fists were superpowered. He should’ve known. “Now hold your horses, I didn’t even accept Fury’s offer yet. Who says I want to even be a part of SHIELD?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then I guess this was a waste of time,” said Mrs. Claws as she swiped forward.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Whoa, slow down kitty. I already know one cat-themed - well, I was going to say ‘superhero’ but she’s not really… not a supervillain either. Hmm.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She growled, actually </span>
  <em>
    <span>growled</span>
  </em>
  <span>, and Peter had to stifle his laugh. He threw a web at her and she clawed it before it could reach her and then got into his face. A quick one. He turned tail and jumped on a nearby crane, running over the top of it with the ease of someone whose sticky feet ensured no incidental long falls. Mrs. Claws followed at once, which meant she was either very competent or way too overly confident.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t little kitties know better than to follow bugs up large trees?” he asked as they climbed higher than one story, two storeys. Three. He had to hand it to her, her sense of balance and bravery knew no bounds.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, I’ll show you ‘little kitty’,” she said. Yup, way too overly confident. A beep erupted the otherwise tense atmosphere, and he held up a finger. Pulling out his phone, he walked to the underside of the crane and checked the caller ID. Aunt May. He needed to ditch these losers fast.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You, you can’t just walk off - We were fighting!” shouted Mrs. Claws from the top side of the crane. The blood was pooling to Peter’s head, but he paid it no mind.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can and I did. Look, if you want to keep fighting little kitten, then c’mon. I’m waiting.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s Tiger. White Tiger. And fine, if that’s how it is then,” she jumped off the top of the crane and his heart caught in his throat, but she caught one of the lower bars at the last minute and used the momentum to swing a kick at him. He ran further up, but she must’ve had the upper body strength of an Olympic shot-putter because she kept getting closer, using the crane rungs like kindergarten playground monkey bars.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This is nice, Tiger, but I have to get going.” He flipped to the top of the crane and she, of course, followed him with her abnormally large biceps. He gave a brief salute and fell backward, letting gravity and the wind take him down, down, down, before he shot a web and bounced right back up. Yelling started up beside him, something like, “You show off!” but the voice soon got carried away with the wind.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He didn’t check his phone until 15 minutes later when he was sure he was alone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Peter, are you alright? You said you’d be home twenty minutes ago. Those Frightening Four haven’t broken out or anything, have they?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Frightful Four, Aunt May, and the line at the bakery was longer than I thought. Don’t worry though, I’ll be home before sunset. Everything’s fine.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If you’re sure…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Positive.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A nearby pigeon landed a few feet away, hopping on its little feet and twisting its head at him. Peter made a shooing motion. The pigeon hopped closer. The line was silent. Then:</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I love you, Peter. Be careful out there.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Love you too, Aunt May. I will.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He waited until Aunt May hung up then dug into his backpack and pulled out his wallet. There wasn’t much in the folded pockets, but then again, there never was. He might have to skim on the frosting this time, and the lettering, but Ben would get his birthday cake, dammit. He closed the wallet and slumped against the wall.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Coo?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You wouldn’t happen to have any money on you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The pigeon flapped its wings and hopped in a circle.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thought not.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As Peter swung back to the bakery, he thought of SHIELD and the Half-Glow team and choices. This morning, he’d been willing to give SHIELD a chance; Peter held no illusions about himself, and if he did, J. Jonah Jameson’s constant hollering would’ve burst that bubble real quick along with the sight of Harry being carted into the ambulance, but after meeting his so-called teammates and their definition of terrorizing - Yeah, no way.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Spider-Man was never joining SHIELD.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>---------------------</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The folders were thin and nondescript, which usually either meant an easy job or something so confidential they could only hand out a handful of files. The team showed neither eagerness nor trepidation as they opened the folder, but that was only because they knew better than to voice an opinion before finding out their mission. As they carefully thumbed through the folders, the air became thick with disbelief.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was Sam who broke the silence. “We’re going to school?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Instead of answering him, Fury’s eye swept the gathered teens. “What do you recognize about this high school?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Midtown High,” Ava read, “Isn’t this the high school the Frightful Four were at today?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Correct. Interviews with the school’s population have made it clear to us that the Frightful Four believed Spider-Man attended the school and is the reason behind their attack. Further questioning has mixed responses on whether Spider-Man actually attends, and that’s where you come in.” He pressed his palms flat against the table and stared them down. “This is a mission that no other agent can carry out. You must be careful and, above all else, </span>
  <em>
    <span>subtle </span>
  </em>
  <span>as you search the school.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You want us to find out Spider-Man’s ID? What happened to him being our new teammate?” asked Luke.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Spider-Man is an uncontrollable vigilante who regularly puts civilians in danger. I hoped that he would accept my offer to join SHIELD and we could train him to become a proper hero, but it’s clear from your fight at the construction site that he’s too unstable.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sir, with all due respect,” said Danny, “but perhaps you judge the spider too swiftly. He seemed antagonistic, yes, but I think we caught him on a bad day-“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A bad day for a civilian is fine. A bad day for a guy who can pick up cars and web people to skyscrapers isn’t acceptable. Your job is to enroll in Midtown High and find out Spider-Man’s secret identity. You start on Monday. Dismissed.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But-“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Dismissed</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well,” Luke said as they headed back to their dorms, “I guess that means we’re headed back to public school.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sam groaned.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>